Refurbished Counselling Centre Opens at Hayes Primary School

Students of the Hayes Primary and Junior High School in Clarendon now have a refurbished Guidance Counselling Resource Centre, provided by volunteers from Jamalco, under the company’s Bravo Volunteers programme.
The building was officially opened at the school on June 28. The group of volunteers from the company’s Capital Projects department, with help from family members, undertook most of the work in 2009. They spent a minimum of 50 hours each cleaning and painting walls and ceilings and repairing the furniture, including sanding and varnishing 150 desks and chairs.
This year the volunteers completed the work by tiling the facility, and some US$1,250 donated by the Alcoa Foundation was used to help equip the centre with furniture and equipment, including ceiling fans, a television set, a VCR and three computers.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Jamalco’s Manager of Capital Projects, Richard Hall, said the volunteers, “are proud to have contributed to this initiative and believe the Guidance Counsellor’s room will go a far way in the development of better methods of conflict resolution, promote a better understanding of differences and reasons for our behaviour, and a better understanding of our country and what it means to be a Jamaican citizen.”
Principal of the school, Mark Nicely, said the school, “is eternally grateful to all those who have participated in the project. The volunteers came in and gave of their time and energy. It was like a breath of fresh air,” he said.
Chairman of the Community Council, Lorine Metcalfe-Cousins, pointed out that the Guidance and Counselling department plays a critical role in helping the children to be better students, and commended the Jamalco volunteers for the role they are playing in building a better community.
Alcoa owns 55 per cent of Jamalco and its employees participate in the Alcoa Bravo programme administered by the Alcoa Foundation. The Alcoa Bravo programme recognizes the impact individual Alcoa employees make in their communities, by matching employee volunteer time with an annual grant to the organizations they assist. Employees who volunteer a minimum of 50 hours in a calendar year with an eligible non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) may apply for one US$250 grant per year.